PitchBook: VCs invested over $4B in quantum computing in 2026, nearly matching all of 2025

Venture capital firms have invested more than $4 billion in quantum computing companies since the start of 2026, according to PitchBook data reported by the Financial Times. That is almost as much as the capital deployed in all of 2025, a year whose total nearly matched the previous four years combined.

A record 2025 set the stage

PitchBook's "Bit by Qubit" report put global quantum computing venture funding at a record $3.9 billion across 127 deals in 2025, the highest annual total on record. A single quarter, Q4 2025's $1.5 billion, exceeded the entire annual VC total raised in every year before 2021.

The character of the capital also changed. Venture-growth investment rose from roughly 1% of deal value in 2024 to 27.5% in 2025, and mainstream institutions including NVIDIA, BlackRock, JPMorgan and sovereign wealth funds began leading the largest rounds, displacing specialist quantum venture firms. Platform companies captured most of the money: Quantinuum raised at a $10 billion pre-money valuation, while PsiQuantum reached $6.3 billion.

2026: an exit window opens

The year began with a long-awaited exit window. PitchBook counted $5.7 billion in liquidity across four transactions in the first quarter alone, and Quantinuum's IPO accounted for most of $19 billion in quantum exit value, the first major test of the technology on public markets. In private markets, Oxford Quantum Circuits raised a £260 million Series C led by Bullhound Capital, and quantum hardware startup Miraex was acquired in June, after Quantum Circuits sold for $538 million earlier in the year.

VC investment in quantum computing then hit a record $2 billion across 23 deals in the second quarter, about a third of all dollars in the chips and datacenters vertical.

Quantum stands out as chips cool

The wider chips and datacenters market fell for a second consecutive quarter to $6.6 billion across 133 deals, PitchBook found. Semiconductor chip design startups posted their weakest quarter since Q1 2025 at $1.7 billion, as the dominance of larger players gave investors pause. Even so, 2026 remains on pace to exceed 2025's record of $21.6 billion.

For quantum computing, the shift from specialist funds to institutional backers changes the questions startups face: whether the technology works, but also how it performs on public markets and inside large corporate balance sheets.